A Break in Weather

We have a few days of clear skies on tap before the next storm comes in so we all got busy.

I headed out right after chores and breakfast to the grocery store.  What a surreal experience that was; wiping down the cart with Purcell, making wide circles around the other (relatively few) shoppers; entire empty sections in the aisles with quantity limit signs everywhere.  There was no bread at all.  Fortunately, I know how to make bread so I’ll get cracking on that this afternoon.  We bought TP a month ago so I didn’t even go down that aisle.  They did have tequila — I see many margaritas in my future.  I bought the limit on butter (two packages) and I should have bought flour, but didn’t think of it at the time.

On my way home, I stopped by the corner market to see if they had bread.  They didn’t.

When I got home, Brett was busy hooking up the trailer to his truck to go make a hay run.  Pistol and Flash are doing great on alfalfa so we need to get more.  We only bought a few bales initially because Pistol has a history of allergy to alfalfa.  Fortunately, she appears to have outgrown that; not a hive to be seen and calm as can be.

The horses were, ahem, busy as well.  Pistol and Flash:

Looking out past the barn

Looking towards the road

And, in the long pasture, the other three.  Lucy was laying down with them — so all five horses were down at the same time which is a major violation of herd protocol — but she got up as soon as she saw me coming with my camera.  Guilty conscience, most likely.  Not that I blamed them for napping in the sun; its been a long, cold, and wet week.

Luek in front, Tex behind, Lucy standing

Shuffling

Flash and Pistol went in for their check-ups yesterday.  They are both in very good health, with no issues other than being a bit thinner than optimum.  Our vet recommended putting both of them on alfalfa to help with maintaining good weight.  As horses age, it becomes more difficult to keep weight on and they are both going to be 24 this year.  They’ve both been easy keepers all their lives so I don’t expect it will be hard to add a few more pounds.

We don’t want the other horses on alfalfa as they are all plenty fat and would totally blimp out on alfalfa.  So, we rearranged the pastures.  We decided to put Flash and Pistol together in the front pasture, which is flat and gets the most grass (which isn’t much of anything right now due to our lack of rain).  That meant Tex and Luek would be joining Lucy in the long, sloping pasture which has lots of oaks and pines but no grass to speak of.  We knew Tex and Lucy would be fine together as they have been pastured together before.  The wild card was Luek.  Lucy is an alpha mare; as in an ALPHA mare.  She and Flash cannot be together as he is an alpha as well and they fight.  Luek seems pretty easy going going, though, so we were optimistic that it would work fine.

It took some orchestration.  We put Pistol in a turn-out and then moved Tex and Luek over to the shady pasture.  Sage trotted along with us.  Brett took Tex in first, since we knew that would go well.  Lucy immediately came over to investigate, which made Tex nervous, which made Brett step away from the gate.  The gate swung open — I had Luek some distance away so I couldn’t catch it —  Lucy saw the open gate and she was gone.  That would have been fine, she’s easy to catch, except that Sage saw it as her opportunity to herd Lucy back in.  She lunged at Lucy’s heels, Lucy jumped the stream and she was gone in a cloud of dirt and clattering hoofs.  Luek watched them go.

I put Luek in the pasture with Tex and set off to get Lucy.  I found her by the barn, in another turn-out.  Sage looked pretty pleased with herself.

I haltered Lucy and took her back to the pasture.  That actual pasture integration of a new mix of horses was a non-event.

Tex and Luek are happy to be with a cute girl; and she’s happy to be admired.

Last, we moved Pistol in with Flash.  They’ve known each other for 15 years, have been on many trail rides and in trail competitions together.  They are old friends.  Pistol wandered off to try and find some grass while Flash dove into the alfalfa.

Leaving the Animals

It is difficult for us to leave the ranch.  I know we aren’t alone in that space.  We wouldn’t trade our life here, with the animals, for anything but it does make it very difficult to travel.  Unlike some of our other retired friends, we can’t take off at the drop of a hat and go hither and yon.

Fortunately, we have two very good people who take care of our animals when we do leave.  They both are experienced with horses and we trust them.  Of course, we still look for the daily text telling us everything is okay, but we don’t worry too much.  Laura also sent us photos which was really nice.

Pistol

For Thanksgiving, we traveled to my father’s home — about six hours away by car.  Laura stayed at the house and took care of everyone, in the snow and cold.  We had the horses in their stalls in the barn so she didn’t have to slog out to the pastures.  The first day that Laura was here, Lucy got a bit impatient while waiting for dinner and was demonstrating all her athletic moves.  Of course, all the bucking and leaping about didn’t make Laura want to go into the stall but Lucy did, eventually, chill.

Lucy is also a pig.  She poops and pees in her bedding, unlike the other three who do their business outside in their run-outs.  Flash takes big mouthfuls of his hay and dunks it in his water.  As a result, the area around his water is always wet and the water in the bucket is a lovely shade of green.  Unless the weather is really bad, or the snow is deep, it’s easier for us if they are in their pastures and they are happier there too.

Laura stayed at our place, but she had additional places where she was feeding pets and livestock.  She had asked us about taking the dogs with her and I said that Sage hates the car and it isn’t fair to leave her behind and just take Kersey so we expected that they didn’t go with her.

Kersey loves the car.

She took them both.  And, Sage was fine.

Not thrilled, but not unhappy either.

Clear and Cold

We are finally getting some rain.  Today, we have one day of icy cold sunshine before the next storm arrives. 

Tex was feeling very frisky this morning; leaping forward, striking playfully, and romping across the frost coated grass.

Pistol has the sweetest expression -- sort of, "why, hello there.  I'm happy to see you." 

Lucy is sweet in her own princess sort of way too.  But its more like "Scratch my back, and I'll consider scratching yours.  But in the meantime, don't you dare touch -- or even look at -- another horse."

Once the ice thawed a bit, the birds enjoyed my new bird bath (Christmas gift from Brett). 

Another cold night tonight, then the rain returns tomorrow morning.  I'm going to bake bread and make a pot of soup.  What do you like to do on rainy days?

Summer Schedule

There isn't much to blog about in the heat of summer.

Pistol and Jackson, headed to dinner.

We are up before the sun to feed and finish barn chores before the heat of the day starts settling in -- around 7:30am.

Brett bringing in the hay cart.  Pistol has her nose in it -- they all ignore the manure cart.

During the day, we hide inside (I hide at work during the week).  Brett tosses more hay at lunch, but other than that the name of the game is trying to stay somewhat cool.

Wait for me!

In the late evening, we venture back outside to feed.

Brett always has cookies.

There isn't much else going on.

That's all?  Just one cookie?

Its Hard to Wait

With Tex, I work a lot with "draw."

With Jackson and Lucy, I don't have any problem with "draw."  They both are learning "pause."  This is particularly hard for Lucy -- a pushy, dominant, princess mare.

Left to right: Pistol, Jackson and Lucy

I use pause when I am walking Lucy and Jackson between pastures, or the barn, or just hand grazing.  Basically, they are not allowed to drag me around and graze at will.  I choose where we walk, and I choose when they graze.  Of course, I make sure that the spots I choose are superior to those that they see.

Pistol is in heat again... Jackson continues to be a bit confused.

Jackson has always been a bit rude.  Before he was retired, I didn't tolerate it and he stopped (with me; he still tested everyone else).  After he was retired, I got lax.  He has been retired for six years -- so he's back to being pretty rude.  Fortunately, it only took one reminder for me to establish the ground rules.  We walk; I stop; he waits for me to say "have some," and then he grazes.

Lucy is a bit more work.  We walk.  We stop.  She dives for the grass.

"Wait." I say, in a firm voice.

She dives for the hay.  I repeat, while correcting with either the whip touching her nose, or a yank on the lead rope (if I forgot to carry the whip).

She raises her head and looks away from me in disgust.  When she turns to me, I say "have some."

She understands, but she'd rather not comply, so we repeat this a lot.

There It Is

This morning Brett and I rode together again.  But, this time he rode Pistol while I rode Lucy.  It was a whole different ballgame.  Both horses were happy and relaxed -- and focused.

Lucy and I had the best ride we've had in years.  Seriously, the best ride since before I was injured.  Probably the best ride since fall of 2015.  She had her forward floaty trot going; with only a couple minor spooks.  She felt so good, that I decided to ask for canter.  She pushed into it like a Porsche changing gears.  She was round and smooth; relaxed and comfortable.  We came back to trot, changed directions, and did it the other way.  Same story.  And then, that was all she wanted to do.  I picked her back up after a nice stretchy trot break and she said, "Canter?  Please canter?"  ...so we did.

Later, I groomed Jackson and put him out in the arena for the afternoon.  It did wonders for his feet -- well, other than the part where he was so happy that he tried to rear and couldn't.  But, the sand was very dry and warm (despite the air being a bit chilly in the breeze).  When I picked up his feet tonight to put on the antibiotic, I was amazed at how much better they looked.  I think the dry warmth helped suck out all the moisture.

We put Tex and Flash up in the top pasture for a few hours.  They were in heaven and Tex was easy to catch afterward.  He watched Brett halter Flash, and then followed them down to where I was standing.

We leave on Wednesday (after Jackson's vet appointment) for our liberty training clinic.  I'm so excited!  Isn't it funny how one part of your heart can be heavy with worry and another part can be excited?  I feel like a ping pong ball.  I was bouncing around all day emotionally: worried about Jackson, excited for the clinic, missing my mom (Mothers Day has been hard for me since she died), laughing when Jackson groomed me back, loving the way Tex looks at me, and happy about my ride on Lucy.

Lucy and Pistol had a turn in the back 40, as well.  I think everyone had a good day.

Brett complained because I wouldn't let him weed whack or mow.  I said that I wanted to hear the birds singing while I was gardening, not the mower.  He grumbled and went back in the house to watch some golf tournament on TV.  And I enjoyed my peaceful afternoon filled with sunshine and birdsong, and an occasional cold breeze.

Not What We Expected

Friday I managed to leave work a tad earlier than usual.  As I drove home, I thought about riding Lucy with happy anticipation.  She has been so forward and happy to work since her stifle injections, and, when we work, she is starting to look strong and muscular with her veins popping out of her shiny coat like a true equine athlete.

Brett was busy moving compost from the bins into my garden with his tractor, but he hopped off when he saw me come out of the house wearing my breeches.  He wanted to ride Flash.  We both mentally thought about their history together, which wasn't pretty, and agreed to work at separate ends of the arena.

We tried putting the horses all together once, when one of the pastures was out of commission.  This was a few years ago.  Everyone got along fine except Lucy and Flash.  They are both alphas; and neither was willing to concede to the other.  There was a lot of ear pinning, charging and kicking.  There was some blood but fortunately nothing serious.  We separated them immediately.

Flash was a bit of a pill while we were tacking up.  He reached over, picked up his bridle, and started shaking it.  He tried to untie himself.  Lucy was an angel.

We walked up to the dressage court, keeping a good amount of distance between the two, and it was drama free.  Lucy lined herself up at the mounting block and stood quietly while I mounted.  I could hear Brett telling Flash to stand still.  Lucy and I walked to the top of the arena, while Brett mounted.

Meanwhile, Pistol was pitching a fit.  When Brett and I ride together, it is always with Lucy and Pistol.  The few times Brett has ridden Flash, I have ridden (or worked with) Tex.  Pistol was not happy.  The far end of the girls' pasture, the area we call the bedroom, is close to the dressage court.  Pistol was in the bedroom bucking, squealing, and spinning.

I watched Brett and Flash walk into the court from the mounting area.  Flash was bunched up and crow-hopping without leaving the ground.  I called over to Brett,
"Maybe you should get off."
"What?"
"Maybe you should get off.  He looks like he is going to explode."
"I can't hear you.  What?"
"GET OFF"
"I think I'll be okay."
"GET OFF!"

Brett hand walked Flash until he settled (and Pistol settled) and then got back on.

Meanwhile, Lucy was not jumping around but she was very resistant.  She was distracted.  What she really wanted to do was pin her ears and charge Flash and teach him his place.  She didn't, but she also didn't relax or pay attention to me very well.  It took twenty minutes to get a stretchy trot from her -- something I can pretty much get immediately these days.

I can't say it was the most productive ride we've had; but it was certainly interesting.

Stupidly Happy, Tired and Sore

As Brett and I drove out the front gate this morning, on our way to the corner market so he could get mushrooms for his scrambled eggs, I looked over at Lucy, Pistol and Jackson contentedly grazing and said, "Is it stupid that I am so happy that they are back in their pasture?"

Pistol

Brett has been working on replacing the fence that came down under the weigh of the falling oak tree.  It's been slow and difficult work for him -- getting the holes dug, the posts set (perfectly straight), and the rails up -- all by himself.  He had about half of it done, including a new gate to go with the new pedestrian bridge (made from the oak tree), at the start of this week.

Thursday, his friend Marty came up to help put up the rest.  It looks awesome.

Saturday morning, I helped Brett clean up the piles of old fencing, old bent and rusty wire, and the pieces of left over wood.  It took us a couple hours to get the pasture horse ready.

And then we brought them over, out of the confines of the small arena.

Lucy and Jackson

We brought Jackson over too.  The weather is warming, and the ground is dry in most places.  I did find him, this morning, standing in the one marshy area eating away.

Jackson

The water in their water trough had turned a lovely shade of green in the three months since the tree fell and we moved the girls out.  All the gold fish had died, and the water looked disgusting.  I emptied it, throwing bucket after bucket of water over the fence since the drain doesn't work.  We refilled it with fresh water and bought some goldfish.

Lucy

I think we're set.

Love and Marriage, Love and Marriage

You know the tune; sing along as I tell the story of Jackson and Pistol.

The sun was shining on the weekend, and Jackson is now under the careful care of our new (awesome) farrier.  He's feeling great, walking great, and ready to rock and roll.  I moved him into the arena/paddock with Lucy and Pistol.  He immediately rolled, then did airs above ground, a few rodeo bronc bucks, and a lovely elevated trot.

Oh, my.  Said Pistol (who is in heat).

Lucy acted as chaperone but when I worked with her Saturday, Pistol and Jackson were left alone together.

Pistol has been married a few, ahem, times.  She's been bred and had a baby and knows the drill.

Jackson was gelded at a young age (I assume).  He was interested but confused.

They touched noses, nuzzled each other, and Jackson went so far as to grab the crest of her neck.  Pistol lifted her tail and parked herself.  I'm ready, big boy.

Jackson just stood there so she carefully backed herself up, until her butt was on Jackson's chest and her tail was up his nose.

He looked at me with a mix of utter confusion and, dare I say, boredom.

Of course, as soon as I put Lucy back in the arena, she broke it up.  I think Jackson was secretly relieved.

Paying it Forward

A hundred years ago, when I was in high school, a very nice Mormon couple let me ride their horse.  They lived in my town, and I rode on their property, up on Bluebird Hill,  with my best friend who had a connection to them through her sister.  Eventually, my friend stopped going because the horse she was riding (boarded there) was no longer available.  But, the family offered me the opportunity to ride their horse whenever I wanted.  Whenever I wanted; for free.  Most days, after school, I rode my bike up the hill and spent the remaining daylight hours out on area trails with Charco.  For a horse-crazy girl, who's family couldn't afford to buy or lease a horse or pay for riding lessons, it was a dream come true. 

This past Saturday, the guy who offered to build me a bridge out of our oak tree, in return for the opportunity to mill some of it and take some firewood, came up with his friend and two of his kids.  The younger child, a ten year old boy, was in heaven moving logs and driving the tractor.  The daughter came along because she is horse crazy.  I know exactly how it feels to be a 14 year old horse-crazy girl.  She doesn't have a horse, for the same reasons I didn't.  She does trade work for lessons at a small barn near her home, an hour and some change down the mountain from us.


While the boys worked on the tree, Bekah and I rode.  Did I mention that this family is Mormon?  It felt like a wonderful opportunity to pay that gift from my childhood forward.  It was incredibly generous of that family, so many years ago, to trust me -- a non-Mormon girl (and the Mormon community was very tight in our town) -- with their horse. 

Bekah treated Pistol like a princess.  She was groomed thoroughly and ridden with a light hand. 

I was in the arena at the same time, on Lucy.  I glanced over a few times, out of the corner of my eye, just to make sure they were getting along.  Bekah sat tall and balanced, Pistol had her ears riveted on her rider, and they both looked happy.  I left them alone, to figure each other out, and play.


I told Bekah that she can come ride Pistol anytime she wants.  I understand how that family felt so many years ago.  To have a young girl who adores your horse (not just the riding part), and rides with balance and tact, is a gift to the owner too.  I mean, how could she not love Pistol?

After working all day, Brett helped her father and his friend load the first piece of milled wood onto the truck with his tractor.  All three men had to ride on the tractor to provide enough weight to give the wheels traction.  Then they loaded their tools and drove back home.

They will be back in a few weeks to finish the bridge and mill more wood.  I hope Bekah will be with them.

Done with the Mud

Unfortunately, the mud isn't done with us.

We seem to only be getting a day, or a partial day, between storms.  A couple days of sunshine would be nice.

We are in the midst of another doozy storm today.  It started last night and will continue through tonight with very heavy rain, high winds, flooding, blah blah blah.  Tuesday and Wednesday the rain will reduce in intensity, but remain.

Thursday or Friday, the next storm will arrive.  It will be colder than this one, with the possibility of snow.

Princess Lucy sloshes through puddles without blinking.  Yesterday, we left the horses out in the rain for the first hour or so, after the system arrived, because the rain was showery and they've been in the barn so dang much.  The boys were fine, rolling in the mud, thundering through the muck and spraying Brett with mud...

Pistol didn't mind either.  She was busy sticking her head under the fence, trying to reach every last blade of grass.  Lucy, stood at the arena gate and screamed towards the house.  When I brought her in, she was a bit wet.  The first thing she did was roll in her shavings.  When she stood up, there were shavings stuck to her nose, her cheeks, her neck and her entire body.  She looked like a chocolate donut covered in coconut.

A Mary Poppins Day

You know: Practically Perfect in Every Way

Weather: Sunny and 60F.  SUNNY!  60F!  Patches of dry ground, even.

The Plan: Ditch all other options (wine tasting, for example) and play outside.

Breakfast: French toast and coffee

Morning activities: Brett worked on pieces of reclaimed barn wood he is going to use for the guest bathroom window frame.  I cleaned out the refrigerator in the barn -- despite being on the lowest setting, cans of root beer froze and exploded.  It looked like diarrhea... thankfully, it smelled like root beer.

Then, we rode.  I rode Lucy who was practically perfect in every way.  She was relaxed, but forward.  I remembered how to ride.  (honestly, I was worried about that)  All the years of taking lessons paid off.  As soon as my butt hit the saddle, the voices of my trainers chimed in: legs on (because she's a sensitive mare), sit up straight, Velcro those elbows to your hips...  Brett rode Pistol.  As I was trotting along feeling unimaginable joy at the fluid ease of Lucy's trot, Brett called over, "It sure feels good to be riding."  Exactly what I was thinking.  I love riding that mare; more than any other horse I've ever had, or had the pleasure to ride.

Lunch: in the garden with goldfinches flitting in the branches above my head.

Afternoon activities: we rode, again.  Brett rode Flash and I rode Tex.

They were both good as gold.  Tex was relaxed and affectionate.  He stood, ground tied, like a statue while I set the saddle on his back.  He lined himself up at the mounting block (okay four tries, but still) and stood quietly while I mounted.  We walked around for a bit.  My goal was to have him relax at the walk.  I won't work on trot until he is relaxed and supple at the walk.  He did relax and, while he struggled with bend and never got to supple, he did lift his back underneath me and carry himself in an excellent frame for brief moments.  Its a place to start.

Dinner: Brett treated me to dinner in town, at a new restaurant.  It was excellent -- Czech owners and Eastern European food -- reminded me of my Hungarian grandmother's cooking.

I don't think life gets any better than this.